Heir of Shadow
by Skywolf24
Summary: The Dark Knight has faced many challenges of protecting Gotham, but when he is left to raise Damian, his and Talia al Ghul's rebellious son, with Selina, he soon discovers the importance of family and the enduring hardships of fatherhood.
1. Chapter 1

**Heir of Shadow**

**Batman created by Bob Kane and DC Comics**

**All characters belong to Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros**

* * *

_+ - Chapter 1- +_

Within the hotel suite at the Gotham Arms, Batman stood motionless in the gold gleam of flickering candlelight. His piercing hazel green eyes stared darkly at the curvy woman pouring a red wine into a crystal glass. He fastened his thinned straight lips into a firm line, keeping himself heavy guarded as she sauntered closer, allowing his concealed eyes to rake over her shapely body. She was a demon, always had dark chocolate hair shortened at the nape of her neck, and plump curves covered with bronze silk. Her serpentine gray blue eyes darkened with malice and vengeance as she unveiled her hidden purpose within the depth of her shadowed gaze.

A crush of awareness forced him to shift his to the clusters of city lights reflecting over his Kevlar armor. The vague scent of jasmine wavering of her tarnished olive skin became intoxicating as haze wafted rigid frame. Batman kept himself alert as she clicked her three-inch heels in front of him.

"You have changed, beloved." She observed, whispering with rich accent. "The sins of city of have made aged you."

Batman stiffened his lips into a faint scowl, "What do you want, Talia?" he growled, his voice dark and thick.

Talia narrowed her eyes downward, "Someone has threatened to kill us, Bruce." she spoke with a hint of bitterness in her voice. "An old demon of my father."

"Why come to me?" He questioned, searching beyond her semblance. "You have the protection of the League of Shadows."

"The League of Shadows no longer with us, Bruce." Talia said, clenching her jaw. "They turned against my father and formed an alliance with a new form of evil that will desolate this city to ruin if you don't accept this offer I am about to give you."

Under the cowl, Bruce felt dread slink its way through his veins, causing trepidation to pound inside his mind, clotting an image of her dagger piercing his side and then pulling it out to allow him to see his own dark blood stain on the blade. He crossed his gauntlet scalloped arms over his hard chest piece and glared her down with the division of wariness and remorse.

"What are you saying, Talia?" He rasped, his voice rough as he felt his knuckles crack underneath the material of his gloves. "I don't trust you. Never will again." he dejected out, vocal cords straining.

She nodded in silence, "I understand that, Bruce." she spoke with a voice laced of churlish vengeance. "This is no longer about my life, I am not important enough for you to save in this world." She placed her exquisite hand on his plated shoulder, looking into his molten hazel orbs hidden behind the darkness of his cowl. She smirked, watching the expose skin of his chiseled jaw flush with heat. " A secret has been kept from you for years from my father. It has been a sin to leave just a precious gift hidden from you for twelve years." She leaned in closer, pressing the soft swells of her breasts against the hardness of his torso. "Now, I think you ready to know the truth, Bruce Wayne."

"Truth?" He choked up, sounding a little flourish.

"When you became involved in training with the League of Shadows in Tibet," Talia explained to him with a gentle conviction in her voice. "My father offered a drink after you accomplished sword kata on the high rails. In the drink was a mixture of a potent seductive that left you unconsciousness for twenty-four hours." She met his penetrating stare, and withdrew a step back."During the period your body became vulnerable and will power frozen as you reluctant to follow the commands of the toxin and conceived the future with a young woman."

Batman kept his lips sealed, his chest heaved underneath the protective tri-weaved fiber as he felt his rib cage become crushed with lead weights as the foggy memories lashed inside his mind. His heart started racing at impossible speed. A harrowing panic erupted in his veins as he tried to speak with vice like constriction made his words halt in his throat. "No," he managed with a hitching breath, he gritted his teeth. "That never happened!" he interjected.

"Never happened?" Talia snarled incredulously. "Never happened? I thought you an a photographic memory, Bruce?"

"You used me-"

"No. My father used you." she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "It was always in his plans to create a new future of his work of restoring the balance of harmony in this world. He always had the right judgement in choosing a man worthy for his succession. You were unpredictable with loyalty and so he created a reserve of his ideals by giving the League of Shadows a young heir with your family's bloodline flowing in his veins."

Batman seethed out a breath against his clenched teeth, "I-" His mouth opened to protest. Anger threatened to explode in his lungs as he clenched his eyes, slamming them shut, and shifting his body to avoid her stare as he refused to finish his sentence. He reopened his smoldering hazel eyes, and stared intently out at the city lights in momentary silence and then turned on his boots to face her with a fierce glower. "A child."

Talia clutched a sharp edged diamond in her hand. "Yes, Bruce." She stepped closer and held out her hand. "This belonged to my mother and now it belongs to you as payment for watching over our son."

"Son?" Batman's lips parted, refusing the diamond. He suddenly felt feverish in the confines of his heavy suit. "My son." He growled, becoming crestfallen.

She nodded, "He is a twelve-year-old warrior." she answered, allowing her stare to drift to the door. "Damian, you may enter."

Batman glared at the door, watching it open as a small boy stepped into the room, his body covered in severe black garments with the symbol of the League of Shadows etched on bronze gauntlets. His deep brown locks a mop of hair with bangs hiding his forehead. His complexion fair skinned and slightly freckled. His hooded steel blue eyes darkened as he stared indignantly at his father.

Talia placed her hand firmly on her son's shoulder. "Damian, allow me to introduce you to your birth father, Bruce Thomas Wayne."

Damian glared upwards at his father with a piercing, familiar gaze. His shadowed eyes absorbed the visage of the menacing Dark Knight as he stared intently into the concealed eyes of hazel green focused and still behind a sleek, dark mask molded with jagged curves that displayed the controlled aggression of the man underneath the demonic semblance.

A black cape draped over his plated shoulders. And his strong jaw of definite of youth and firmness creating a perfect arch of a soft thinned mouth surrounded by the graphite barrier of the pointed eared cowl. Damian regarded his eyes away from Batman. "Hello, father." he spoke with a stern voice, his upper lip curled. "So you are the one that Bane left broken in the pit."

"Yes," Batman growled sort of nodding, he squatted down to the level of his son. "Your mother has asked me to take care of you." He looked up, meeting Damian's uncertain eyes. "For your own protection, you're staying under my watch."

"I don't need protection." Damian scuffed his father's words. "I can survive on my own."

Bruce raised an eyebrow under the mask, "No," he growled firmly, his patience turning into detached pieces of anger. "You're my son." He scowled, those words became foreign to his logic. "Your life in my hands now. Get use to it, kid."

"How dare you speak those words to the grandson of Ras al Ghul!" Damian protested, glaring at his father.

Batman glowered at him, and instantly shot back up to his feet. He shifted his unsettling gaze at Talia and growled up his throat, "We've got a lot of work to do." he felt his twisting soul blanch, just imaging Selina's reaction in his mind when he stepped foot with his long lost son in the main hall of Wayne Manor.

He knew at the moment, she would be in the bat cave, lithe body covered with her workout attire of a black sports bra and thin yoga pants. Her long, full and glossy mahogany hair fastened into a pony tail. Her full scarlet lips firm with ease waiting for his warm mouth to caress and rough kiss. The thought of her alabaster body curled on a mat doing fierce repetitions of abdominal crunches, before moving to her second phase of her nightly routine of biceps curls with ten pound dumbbells became a tranquil pool of reputation in his clashing mind as a frustration ripple in his veins. _Her claws will come out tonight_._  
_

"Alright," he took a deep, cleansing breath. He swallowed a thick obstruction down his throat as he set his focus on Talia. "You have my word that I will not allow anything to happen to him." He said, his voice sounded whisper, strained and heated.

Talia smiled weakly and lowered herself down to Damian, "Your father will be taking care you, my little fire." Her teary eyes narrowed. "You can trust him. He won't allow harm to come to you."

"Will Bruce Wayne be my protector like Bane, mother?" Damian asked, watching tears slip down her face.

"Your father will teach everything he knows and keep you safe." Talia whispered, leaning her head in closer and pressed a soft, warm kiss on his forehead. She pulled away, and looked at her son with an assuring gleam in her eyes. "Remember whose blood runs within you, my son."

Damian nodded gently, and strode to Batman. "I am ready, father."

Batman sighed, his hazel eyes throbbed as he turned his stare to Talia, before placing his gloved hand on Damian's shoulder. "Let's go." He twisted around, cape slashing at the air as she invaded his space, making him halt in his footing.

"I know that I've made a lot of mistakes, Bruce." She mashed her teeth into her bottom lip. "Damian is my redemption and the only good thing I have ever done."

"I will protect him, Talia." He answered, his voice had the same rich pitch of Bruce Wayne.

Talia nodded and walked over to the Damian, she moved a vial from a pocket of her pants and waved it under the boy's nose. Instantly the Damian's eyes snapped shut as he fell into her arms. "This will keep him sedated for a few hours." She said, looking up at Batman. "He is a good boy, Bruce."

"We'll see," he answered, crouching down and lifting up his son in his solid arms. He moved to the balcony, and stared at Damian as he secured the boy in a tight nest of his forearm and pressed the side button of his cowl's ear, "Alfred, I need you to prepare my old room. We're having a guest" He whispered, feeling a dull ache in his chest. He clenched his jaw, hard. "Tell Lina, I'll meet her in the master bedroom in one hour. Make sure you have a dozen of roses on the bed with a bottle of her favorite wine."

"Will you be wanting a cot in the room or a made bed, Master Wayne?"

Bruce felt the urge to roll his eyes at his butler's tone of voice, "Alfred, our new guest will be staying a while at the Manor."

"Master Wayne?" Alfred's cockney accented voice buzzed in his ear. "Who will be staying with us?"

Bruce sucked down a heavy gulp of air before he heaved out the answer, as he looked at the boy resting against his plated chest. "My son..." A pause ragged in his raspy voice, the raw words burned his throat. "Damian."

And then dead silence filled his ears.


	2. Chapter 2

Heir of Shadow

_+ -Chapter 2- +_

* * *

"I am still having trouble believing in this, Master Wayne?" Alfred affirmed, his wintry blue eyes narrowed down at the unconscious child resting on the medical table. Batman's dark cloak was covering his body as the Englishman stood inches, with his arms crossed over his chest. Bruce strode closer to the computer desk, his shadowed hazel green eyes locked on the cluster of screens. He pursed his lips, scanning his gaze over the blood test results with a crestfallen expression shrouding his chiseled face. He lowered his head, parting his lips and let out a shaky exhale.

"Believe me, you're not the only one, Alfred." Bruce droned, folding his broad arms over his torso. He wrenched his eyes from the screens, and then cocked his head over his shoulder and stared firmly transfixed at Damian."I knew Ras al Ghul couldn't be trusted. His methods were inhumane and unpredictable." He growled, anger laced in his raspy baritone. "Everything I did with the League Shadows, all the training and broken bones was just for his gratification of carrying on his legacy. I became a pawn in his game and allowed him to get close to get stabbed in the heart and misused with a stray dog obeying its master."

"Now this boy is paying for grandfather's sins." Alfred replied, shaking his head. He thoughtfully raked his blue eyes over Damian's face and felt the corners of his withered lips grace into a faint smile. "I have to admit, Master Wayne, this young warrior looks very much like you did when you were his age." He conceded with a quiet tone, staring intently at the rich mop of chestnut on Damian's head, freckles and high cheek bones. "It's all bloody chilling if you asked me, sir."

"He is nothing like me, Alfred." Bruce interjected with a ragged growl. "Damian is a young assassin,He trained with Bane and other members of the League of Shadows." He moved closer to the table, standing stoic at the boy's side, staring straight and calmly at his son as he reached out a hand and traced a finger over Damian's neck. His lips alerted into a frown as he felt the scar, the branding mark of Ras al Ghul." My son's whole life has been about war games and training. Inside his body, a lethal warrior is becoming stronger each year. He will become the successor of Ras al Ghul and command the group of mercenaries with his birth right."

"You can become the difference in your son's life, Master Wayne." Alfred gazed at his young charge and lifelong friend with a hearty smile. He placed his age spotted hand firmly on Bruce's tensed shoulder. "You can help this boy find a away to rise out of the shadows of his grandfather and embrace something entirely different." He spoke with cadence in his voice, meeting Bruce's still hazel eyes. 'This boy needs his father not just Batman or the absent-minded playboy, but the real Bruce Wayne. The same man who fell in love with the efficient and beautiful jewel thief who is waiting for you upstairs. That's the person your son needs to help him discover a new purpose in his life, sir."

The two men looked down at the heir to the Wayne family legacy, Damian stirred a little, but the sleep agent was highly potent. Bruce searched validly over the boy's black garments, removing soiled hexagonal Shurikens, a combat spike which he discovered in a boot and ashiko foot spikes.

"I figured that the boy came with the some toys, Master Wayne," Alfred quipped warmly, looking at the billionaire, a twinkle in his eye as he turned and walked to the computer desk. He poured a batch of freshly brewed Earl Gray tea in a cup, and took a few sips.

Bruce's hazel eyes became vacant, his shoulders squared. "I'm not surprised that he came prepared for a mission." He grumbled under his breath, fastening his lips into a taut line. He threw out the spikes, clenching his jaw tightly. "Talia has molded him to become a ruthless killer. I'm not entirely convinced that he already accomplished a few missions with the League." He slammed his eyelids shut, rubbing his pounding temples, a breath of heated frustrated ghosted out of his lips. "I need to watch him closely, Alfred. I can't trust Damian to go out on patrol with me, not until I know that he's certain to prove himself."

Alfred nodded silently. "You can't force him, Master Wayne." Alfred returned, his voice straightforward. "Everything takes time, and if he's as stubborn as you-I figure it will take longer."

Bruce took a deep breath, inclining his head. "He's not going to become a solider in this war of Gotham, Alfred. I will teach him how to fight and seek justice without blood on his hands." He pulled off the Bat suit's under armor, lifting his solid arms over his head, turning his back as a tapestry of scars and redden bruises on his muscular planes became visible in the glow of the cave's industrial lights.

He threw the drenched clothing down, and dropped his head. "This is not going to easy. Damian's mind has been programmed to follow orders. He doesn't know the difference between killing and saving lives. All he has known throughout his life is methods of combat and surviving from enemies. He is a natural born killer, Alfred, using any means to have victory over his opponents." He pulled on a black T-shirt, and allowed his eyes to drift to the direction of the elevator. "I need you to watch him while I have a private engagement with Selina" He whispered, combing his fingers through his drenched locks of hair, pushing the bangs out of his eyes. "If he wakes up and tries anything dangerous, there are sedatives in the First Aid kit."

"I think I can handle him, Master Wayne." Alfred replied with a cheeky grin. "I will have the First Aid ready for you, I can just imagine how Miss Kyle is going to react with the news. Will you be wanting Acetaminophen or  
Acetylsalicylic for your injuries, sir?"

Bruce shot the old butler a withering look, his infuriated hazel eyes burned in the shadows. "I think I can handle anything Selina throws at me," He answered back with a brisk of confidence in his tone. He casually paced towards the platform bridge. "Keep me informed about Damian." He called out, before melting into the darkness.

Alfred shook his head, looking down at Damian's still form, "I hope your father knows what he's doing, Master Damian."


	3. Chapter 3

_Heir of Shadow_

_+-Chapter 3-+_

* * *

"Selina, will you calm down." Bruce said in a gruff tone. Inside the depth of his hazel- green eyes became intent and hardened by her sudden lash out." This isn't going to make things easy." He lowered his down, jaw twitched at his lips fastened into a firm scowl. "You're not the ones that need to worry about this. Damian is my son, and I will deal with his situation." He crossed his broad arms over his grave chest. His cut-stone features clenched as he tore his eyes away from her piercing coffee orbs.

"I'll calm down when that brat needs his ass thrown out of the cave. He has no right to be here, Bruce." She shot back, brown eyes blazing with a scornful glare."That bitch is using you, and you're allowing her to walk all over you because of a little slip in your drink." She bared her teeth like a feral animal.

She stiffened her blood-like lips, curving into a lethal scowl. He noticed the indentations of her sharp jaw line.

"Sorry, but I'm not buying this." She sauntered to bed, sitting on the edge with her, sleek and long legs crossed. Her overly large features tensed as she shook her head. "I guess you just can't win the fight." She drew out a sharp exhaled. "How long is this brat staying?" she asked, incredulous. "This isn't impermanent, if you're planning on having this blood son of yours stay with us; I want an explanation before I throw you to the media wolves and watch you shudder."

She observed at him with a death glare of vehemence. He blinked, staring at her with a dumbfounded and ire expression written on his smooth, serrated facial curvatures. "Do you think I'm happy about this, Lina?" he asked after a long, inaudible pause. His voice suddenly turned into a scarce whisper. Selina kept her semblance guarded, as he drew out a ghastly breath. I'm not sure how long Damian will be staying with us. Until I get things straightened out around here I want the media left in the dark about this new development in my family's home."

"You trust this kid?" she asked lowly, indignant.

"This is his safety." He returned. "Whoever is hunting Talia, they'll come for him. I can't allow my son to become a part of another war his grandfather's alliance started. He needs protection and lacks discipline for obeying the rules of combat." He flexed his hand into a squeezing fist. "The League of Shadows trained him to become a cold, ruthless killer. He'll become a new Bane. I have no doubt that he's already taken a few lives during his sessions of training."

Selina arched her eyebrow, countering out a shivery breath, "So instead of learning to ride a bike... The perfect brat became taught how to cut out, a heart?" she opposed with a daunting tone, her voice slicing the air between them like a sharpened butchering knife.

Bruce looked at her with a vehement scowl, but disdain etched over his handsome face. "The League of Shadows is effective and merciless. They have no hesitation to take a life." He narrowed his darkened eyes to the floorboards. "Everything Damian was taught in the mountains is for one purpose that I'm entirely sure he already knows." He drew out a frustrated breath. "Talia is preparing him to become the new legacy of Ras al Ghul. Damian is young in the body, but in spirit, he has already lost his innocence, Selina."

"Yeah, I figured that much." She bashed back with an edge in her tone. "Boys don't grow up anymore to become perfect gentlemen to impress their grandparents. They grow up to become natural-born killers without the code that you bounded yourself to follow, Wayne."

Bruce looked at her, his thriving skin at turned into raw, molten flesh. His eyes became ravenous. He peered sternly into her brown orbs. "My code prevents me from killing, Selina."

"I still have a gut feeling that Talia is playing you-she manipulated your once, and I think she'll try again." She narrowed her dark, vexed eyes at the scar on his right side that was created by Talia's dagger." The first chance I get, she'll have a bullet lodged in her head."

"I thought I made it clear about having no guns, Selina." He shot back, with a low growl rumbling in his chest. "I'm guessing you already have one loaded." Bruce felt his lips tightened into sour line. "Unless you have control over your options of getting into bad situations, where Talia has you cornered, with a knife to your throat. I will not allow you to sink deeper in the level of criminal mind because you have a vendetta-she cut him off with a sound of her knuckles cracking, making a shiver race down his spine.

"You still don't trust me? You're holding your righteous code to bind me into your world. I know that Talia isn't going to allow you to change your son. She has made him into a weapon, a gun that she will pull the trigger and wound your sorry ass. Because you believe in second chances, well I got news for you, once you shoot your first bullet and watch a body become cold-you won't be able to escape it. You will swallow the tinny taste of gun powder and feel the metallic against you. However, you won't compromise to the truth because you think there is good in everybody-even inside a monster."

Bruce kept his assertive features rigid; he felt the edges of his mouth alter into a flat frown. "Damian isn't a weapon." He dejected out, hazel eyes looking dismal at the fuming, leggy brunette. "He's a kid who has a right to find his own path without the shadow of Ras al Ghul blocking it." He became flourished and unbalanced as he watched her large coffee orbs blackened with choleric glare.

"I live with the consequences of my actions since that night in the alley. I never redo the things I've done and lost. Even so, I know it's the choices that define us-good or bad." He gritted. Selina kept silent. She reeled up to her feet and equalized her face eye level with his measured height of six feet and one inch, penetrating, intimating hazel -green eyes cloaked with contrition mirroring her gaze.

"I'm just warning you, Bruce." She divulged keeping her eyes locked with his hazel orbs. She steeled her face further into the mask of a shady resolve. "Everything that kid has been taught is for one purpose-to kill." She reduced her eyes, shaking her head. "You can try to reach him, but I think he's already too far in the deep to pull him out."

Bruce shook his head, "No." He replied, voice threatening up a growl. "Not yet," he tore his eyes away from her, looking at the cowl on the dresser. "Damian may share the blood of Ras Al Ghul but also my father. I know it's not going to be easy-it wasn't for me."

Selina glanced at him with an expressionless stare, "What are you talking about, Bruce?" she entreated him, an inquisitive tone rolling on her tongue.

He loured at a graphite cowl for a long minute, allowing deafening silence to consume her ears before he spoke. "I was trained by the League of Shadows to become an assassin." He explained as he walked to the dresser and lifted up the menacing face of Batman, he was seared with the lacing, vile spear of remorse. "I was programmed and deceived at my weakest point. Some nights I found myself staring at my reflection not recognizing my own face because I was slowly being molded into a ruthless killer, but I found a way to escape the darkness. My father's voice kept me from allowing myself to fall deeper into the shadows."

"Instead of using you as his legacy the manipulative bastard found another way-robbing you with something else."

He wrenched his face away from the mask. His chiseled facial structure curled into a scowl. "It seems I've been used all my life." He dejected, thoughts rattling in his skull, as the softness of his lips formed into a frown, unsettled."Ras might have stolen a lot from me, but I never allowed him to take everything away." He traced his fingers absently over a scar in a shape of a crescent on his graven waist; his voice broke. "I have reminders to show that freedom."

"You're not the only one that has scars." Selina hissed, looking down at her arms, intently at the sliver marks embedded into her ivory, freckled skin. He neared closer, polishing his fingers with a gentle caress over her forearms.

"I know." He whispered, with a morose look. He stared affectionately into her brown eyes. "Nothing is going to change what we have." He hoisted her hand to his mouth and caressed heat seeping from his lips on her soft skin. "You're my partner in this storm. I need you by my side with and without the mask."

She grinned weakly, "Does a gun count?"

He shot her a venomous look; his hazel orbs became embers of molten gold, burning through her chest. His features never flinched, never moved. He became undisturbed and cold. She rolled her eyes and wrapped her leg around his, tripping him to the floorboards, and then she had sunk into his warmth, framing his face with her hands and covering his unyielding lips with a relentless soggy kiss that left him breathless that sucked out the air from the back of his throat.

"No guns." he growled against her lips, his upper lip curled under her nose. "No killing."

"I love you too, Wayne." She replied, encasing his dense neck with her hands and tugged on his long strands of chestnut tucked behind his ears. His body relaxed underneath hers as he left gentle, chaste kisses on the curve of her jaw. She kept herself pressed against him, holding him down with her lithesome frame. She claimed his lips once more, longer and deeper as he closed his eyes and released all sweltering tension. She did a kitty lick on the arched line of his upper lip as her fingers threaded wildly in his hair. He moved his lips over hers as she broke to catch an intake of breath, he kissed her hard and nourishing until she became sizzling against his body.

"Tomorrow you'll meet Damian." He heaved a scorched breath, feeling slightly feverish. "Then we'll figure things out."

She whispered, breathing softly. She brought her lip's millimeters from his mouth. "I've got your back." He clasped her neck with his large hand. His fierce hazel eyes stared up at her, and he kissed her with smoldering warmth.

* * *

Coldness erupted inside her bones as a tall, curvy mistress garbed in severe ninja jet black entered the corridor, with an authoritarian expression masked over her cut-stone features. Her piercing green, grayish looked at the lethargic captive strapped down on a raised table, his bare, sculpted torso slacked with a fresh layer of moisture.

She gazed at his muscles coiling as he heaved out heavy pants of breath. She studied the young man cautiously looking for weakness. He was in the range of medium height, measured around five to eleven inches, dark-brown tresses that reached his chiseled jaw and feral, pale azure eyes glaring back at her with shadows of cold malice.

She paced nearer leather boots clicking on the cement flooring. "Do you know the reason why you're still alive?" she hissed with an exotic accent ragging in her throat. He was meticulously silent. She turned her head, looking at guards wearing black masks covering half of their faces. Her hand extended out as a dagger was placed against her palm. The asset was stoic and dangerously mute at her questioning. She advanced closer to the table, holding the knife against his jugular vein. "We kept you alive for a reason. You are the new face of the League of Assassins. You work on another mission has not gone unnoticed by our eyes." She narrowed her eyes down at the red tattoo on his left shoulder the mark of the serpent.

He blinked, clearing his raging thoughts. He swallowed down his aggression as she removed the knife from his throat. His blue eyes were distant, as, he azure colored eyes to drift around the basement of the ruins of a hospital. He parted his full chapped lips and finally mustered up a few words, "The woman you want dead. Who is she?"

"Your mission is named Talia al Ghul. She is rogue of this society who betrayed everything your father stood for. She has been hiding across the world with Ras al Ghul's only blood heir... A boy who now lives in American city thanks to Talia's deception." She pulled back, holding the dagger to the flickers of industrial light. "The young target is the future of the League of Shadows. He will restore this world with his mother's foul ideals."

"The boy," he let out a heavy rasp. "He is my mission?"

She stared angrily at him with cold, furious eyes like a cobra, "I don't things easy on my new recruits." She answered, curving her lips into a savage grin. "No, your mission is to take down the blood father by any force necessary I have someone else in my service to take care of the little prince."

He nodded, hearing her heart beat and breath. His darkened eyes narrowed, "What is the name of my superior?" he asked lowly, looking up at her. "What is your name?" he demanded harshly in Russian.

You may call me Lady Shiva, boy." She snarled back, firmness and contempt in her voice. "I'm the one that gives your orders and allows you to have freedom from the darkness." She glared sternly at his unshaven, square jaw. "When I found in Russia choking on your blood, I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. You are a lethal asset to use against the spore of Ras al Ghul."

He creased his eyebrows deeper as a dismal look took over his face, "What is the name of the boy's father?"

Shiva shot him a frigidity glare, with a barbarous depth in her emerald eyes. "Your target is named Bruce Wayne. He lives in Gotham City. I will prepare you for your destination once we remove a few unwanted memories from you, Noch."

She snapped her fingers, and two men emerged from the obscurities with a syringe in either of their hands; they inoculated the needles into his forearms. He howled lashed in agony as his veins became seared with a new substance. "Don't worry, you'll get used to the pain once your body fully accepts it."

* * *

_A big thank you to everyone who reviewed and read this story. Things are going to get full of angst, drama, romance in the coming chapters. Sebastian Stan is my character visage from my OC villain_ _who has a major role in this plotline._


	4. Chapter 4

_Heir of Shadow_

_+- Chapter 4- +  
_

* * *

The first hour of his awakening ended with failing results; livid azure blue eyes slowly fluttered open to the soft murmur of unfamiliar voices around him.

Slight discomfort from his old battle in the mountains -flashes of snow with blood stains and smoldering ashes of the fallen-his friends and mentors engulfed his raging and resurfacing thoughts as his hand instinctively clenched into a fist as everything had become cold around him. He felt the cold steel against his probing fingers. It was smooth and ice-like against his palm.

Everything he had experienced forty-four-hours ago rushed against him with intense waves, he reeled himself slightly off the table and stared intently at the shadows of the abyss which greeted him. His brow furrowed and his blue eyes fully opened to gather enough crescents of light from the source above him. By the programmed instinct inside of him, Damian turned his head and glared with alert eyes at the black shapes fluttering in the darkness and creating echoes of sonic clicking noises as they dissolved in the rushing folds of water cascading into the veins of a murky river.

"Where the Hell..." Damian felt his sleep clogged voice crack as he crinkled his nose, allowing his memories to recess from the thought pools of his memory. "Mother sent me here in this cave." He scanned his piercing eyes around the numerous work benches, equipment and a high-tech computer desk mounted on a slate platform.

A rigid smirk crossed over his straight lips as he muttered out a disappointed huff of breath, "The legendary bat cave that grandfather talked about" He allowed his voice to drift as his eyes moved up to the levels of the cavern. "It's suitable and efficient for a man that goes around a diseased city dressed up as a flying rodent..." He grimaced, gritting his teeth as he fought against the penetrating jolts of pain ramming inside his skull. "My father... The silent protector of Gotham... The Batman."

He rose off the table as the sound of footsteps hitting concrete lulled him out of his musing. His fingers fumbled over his garments as he searched for a stealth spike in a hidden pouch-there was nothing just faux-black leather.

"What?" Damian roared with an inhuman growl, he crouched on the table like a feral animal and bared his teeth at a tall shape advancing closer to him. "I've been robbed from my weapons-Weakness."

He lashed out darkly, shaking his fists and making the skin of his knuckles turn white as he crushed his palm against the edge of the table. "I am not weak!" He hissed out a spiteful breath and roved his eyes infuriated eyes to an older man standing regally in the shadows. His muscles coiled in anticipation as he narrowed his eyes and glared fiercely at the intruder.

The young assassin raked his molten eyes over the man carefully, studying for the weak points before he moved in to attack. The man was tall, measured to be around six to two inches in height, snow-white hair that receded off of his forehead, and sparking, reserved blue eyes mirroring his guarded stare. All of his face covered in wrinkles and sagging skin-but yet Damian felt a hint of respect for the elder and unfastened his fists as he kept his eyes locked on the man's nonthreatening posture.

"Good morning, Master Damian." Alfred addressed with a cherry English accent. "My name is Alfred Pennyworth." He held a serving tray of breakfast in his age spotted hands and gently placed on a bench. "I trust that you slept well in this bloody awful cave of your father."

Damian remained silent and glared up at him indignantly. He stiffened his jaw and turned his stony gaze away from Alfred, "So you are Alfred J Pennyworth-a loyal servant of the house of Wayne. How many servants live here... My mother talked about maids working in this..." He paused, shifting his eyes around the cave's wall. "Place."

"I am the only servant of this household," Alfred answered with a firm voice. "I trust that you have learned how to respect old men that fetch you breakfast every morning, young man."

"How dare you speak those words to me, old man!" Damian stormed, his lips curved into a scowl. "I can kill you before you can even have a chance to flinch."

Alfred glared down at him sternly, "Don't judge an old book by its cover, Master Damian." He curled his withered lips into a defiant grin. "This old man knows a few tricks about teaching young and stubborn boy assassins the proper ways of discipline-Just ask your father."

Damian shot the butler a murderous stare in the depth of his blue eyes, "Where is my father, Pennyworth?"

"Master Wayne is upstairs. He will be down shortly. In the mean time," He paused, gesturing a wrinkled hand to the tray. "You will eat the breakfast, I prepared for you from the kitchen."

"I am not hungry." Damian scolded, his voice dark and raw. "I can survive three weeks without food. I have been trained to eat less and become immune to having an empty stomach, Pennyworth."

Alfred parted his eyes, drawing out a frustrated sigh, "You're as stubborn as your father." He quipped back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Since you are living under my care... You will eat everything on your plate without questioning and you will like it, Master Damian."

"You can't force me to do something I refuse, Pennyworth." The boy shot back with a harsh tone. "You're not my father-"

"No," a deep, menacing voice echoed in the blackness. "I am." Damian turned his head, looking at the shadows for the source of the voice. "You will learn how to respect Alfred just like you respected your teachers. Fail this one order, Damian and you will know the true meaning of discipline."

Turning, Damian stared with hidden frustration at the tall, dark figure crouched down on a work bench. The graphite mask of the Bat gave the appearance of a jagged silhouette of an aggressive predator with sharp ears that gleamed in the industrial lightening above the workout area. "I am not scared by your threats, father." He stormed out. "I am a warrior-the new face of the League of Shadows."

Batman narrowed his blazing hazel-green eyes, his lips fastening into a tight line. "There is a difference between what you do and what I've learned through years of training." He looked at his scallop blades for a moment, and then settled his penetrating stare at the young man."You think that training and blood smeared on your sword will make you become a perfect warrior." He growled, keeping the pitch of his voice firm. "You're a boy trying to live to the expectations of a man. You're not a warrior-just a soldier that has been programmed to obey his mother's commands."

"I am the grandson of Ra's al Ghul," Damian rebuffed in a stern growl. "I am the future weapon of my grandfather's reformation of this pitiful and diseased world-I don't care if it rains blood."

Batman bared his teeth, and charged instantly at his son. He seethed out a heated breath and glared down at Damian as he barked out his controlled aggression, "Do you know what you sound like... You're not a warrior.. . You're not a soldier, just a little boy controlled by a mad man's dream. Since you're under my shadow now, you will learn how to control your hatred and anger." He withdrew a step back, grabbing the glass of juice and handing it to Damian. "You will follow my rules... Every single one of them."

Damian winced and sipped his juice, "Alright, father." he began with a tiny sneer. "I want you to teach me everything you know."

Batman was hauntingly silent for those moments, he pulled off his cowl, with ease, revealing the sweaty, chiseled face of Bruce Wayne. He looked at his son with endearment and humanity welled in his soulful, intense hazel eyes. "We begin tomorrow morning."

"Why tomorrow?" Damian questioned, lowering the glass. "I want you to teach me now, father."

Bruce rolled his eyes, and pursed his stiff lips-his expression became sour. "You will also learn how to become a patient." He growled back, turning to look at Alfred as he whispered, "Keep him under your watchful eyes while Selina and I head out to Wayne Tower. Lucius has some prototypes that he wants to show us. Notify me if Damian disobeys you, Alfred."

Alfred nodded, "If I handle a man dressed up as a bat-I can handle this child, Master Wayne."

Bruce smirked lightly, gripping the older man's shoulder, "Be careful, Alfred. He's not an average kid-The League of Shadows desensitized him to feel nothing. I'm going to get rid of all the programming Ra's al Ghul placed in him and make my son become a kid again with the help of Selina." He finished with a sure voice; nodded at Damian, and then strode into the darkness.

Alfred sighed and spared a glance at the boy, "Come on, Master Damian. I will prepare a suitable breakfast for the son of Batman and then we'll see about your room."

Damian slid his boy off of the table, and walked passed Alfred, "Very good, Pennyworth." he added. " I was growing tired of looking at this cave. Show me these new living quarters."

"Very good, Master Damian." Alfred replied as the thought of the dusty wine cellar popped in his artful mind.


	5. Chapter 5

_Heir of Shadow_

_{ + Chapter 5 + }_

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**Flashback: 1**

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Damian stood stoically in the fresh crystallization of snow; barely feeling the coldness sear into his bones and freezing the raw bruises on his exposed skin. He allowed his sharp steel-blue eyes to drift over the slopes of the mountain passageway_—_ he felt his jaw stiffen as he pressed his chilled lips together and fought against the dull aches of the pain consuming his tiny body-condemning him to carry the fate of the League of Shadows in his hands and restore everything his grandfather failed to preserve with his ideology before Gotham's, vigilant and elusive Dark Knight_—his father,_ ended his reign of control over the madness of fear.

Inside the murky darkness of his controlled soul, Damian knew that he would never grasp freedom and share a normal life with his beloved mother beyond the veil of Ra's al Ghul's destiny_—_he was the heir of shadow-the fire that will purge out the injustice and criminality across the world, through bloodshed, war and perseverance.

He pressed his gloved hands against the stone of the ledge, anger and dread prevailed over his youthful face, causing a shroud of turmoil to darken his ivory features. He removed the glove, staring intently at the flesh of his finger-battered badly from his sparring session but necessary to endure with every small sting after each strike of his fist into his opponent's skull.

He had been outside for ten minutes when the thick metal doors of the Tibetan compound, dragged opened against the layers of snow, he turned involuntarily around and watched the dim flickers of candlelight revealed a lithe and slender frame of femine stature and rigid posture. Quickly, he withdrew a step back and stood still, trying to gain his stern composure. He parted his numb lips and firmly set his feral blue eyes on the cloaked visage of his mother.

"Mother," he asked with a strained voice. He stared at the softness of the moonlight caress over her sharp, exotic features. "I sense that something is troubling you?"

Talia lowered her blue eyes, "Do you know why you were created in my womb, my son?" she asked in a whisper as Damian stared up at her with confusion etched across his face.

"Yes, mother." Damian replied, keeping his eyes settled on her. "I am the blood heir of Ra's al Ghul-the only one who can save the League of Shadows and carry out his purpose of restoring the balance of harmony in this world-._"_

"There is more to your fate than you think, my son." Talia interrupted, she tentatively advanced closer in regal strides; dainty fingers curled against the black leather in her clutch. Her stern expression became stone-like, full and delicate rosy lips curved into a rigid line of concealed anguish.

"Everything that we are-the blood that flows in our veins is the essence of claiming what has been stolen from the world. Piece by piece the League of Shadows has mended the wounds that mankind as inflicted, but it will be not enough, Damian_—_" she paused, not allowing her despondent words to betray her as she turned and met her son's dazzling steel- blue eyes. She lowered her head down, becoming stoic in her posture and let out a shaky breath. "You are the ember that will burn in the winter storm; the sword that will cut deep into the hearts of humanity."

Damian glowered up at her with a skeptical gleam in his darkened blue eyes. "Why do I sense that you do not desire for me to carry this burden mother?" he asked, searching for the truth beyond the depth of temperate gray-blue. He stiffened his lips into a firm grimace, "I know that my life is already planned out for me because of the birthright branded on my neck-I know that I am the future of the League of Shadows, but I still feel uneasy about this... Mother."

Talia placed her gloved hand firmly on his armored shoulder. "I never wanted this life for you, Damian." she whispered in a voice laced with darkened bitterness. "I wanted to give you freedom beyond my father's shadow and allow you to have a normal life." She clenched her jaw, feeling a molten, knife wielding dagger pierce deep into the murky layers of her guarded soul. "One day, you will have your freedom and we will never have to run and hide from our enemies."

"I am not afraid of death, mother." Damian replied, defiance shimmered against the shadows entrapped in his intent gaze. "I am the grandson of Ra's al Ghul_—_ he lives within me for that is what makes him immortal in this world."

"Damian," Talia replied in a rich voice, cutting through the frosty air. Distant memories provoked by the words of her father flashed in her mind. His voice became like a plague, the thirst for power_—_the disappointment and the spilled blood of her sisters seeping in the cracks of the wooden boards of the sparring ring. She screwed her eyelids shut, wanting to rid the face of Ra's al Ghul out of her mind and throbbing heart. She didn't want Damian to have the same nightmares and to feel the pain she endured. She wanted to erase her existence and start a new life in another city without the sordid conviction of her betray hunting them down in the shadows.

"If I could with all the power I carry in my veins, I would spare your life and allow you to walk your own journey. But I can't..." She allowed her thoughts to drift-her own vulnerability became unveiled as a solitary tear fell steadily over her frozen cheek. She felt her soul being chiseled away as she effortlessly cloaked her fragile emotions with a fierce semblance of a lethal assassin.

Only her face, harden blue eyes filled with raw grief and malice, flawless ivory skin and full lips became hidden in the shadows around them as she tasted the salt of her anguish drip over the corners of her mouth and seeped down the rawness of her throat.

Unconsciously, she coiled her gauntlet forearm over Damian's unyielding shoulders and held him closer against her pounding chest as the sickening dread resurfaced. She wrenched her eyes away from the falling snow building on the stone ledge and felt the blood writhed in her veins. "I can't let you go, Damian, not when everything has already been set... Not when you have declared yourself as the rising fire."

Damian pulled back from his mother's embrace slowly; he gently tugged her hood with his fingers, removing the ebony material off her face as he met her glinting, shadowy eyes in the softness of candlelight. He touched her face, fingers brushed away the tears under her eyes as he spoke in a gentle breath, "Mother, I do not want you to fear for my life." He dashed away his eyes from the tears streaking over her jaw. "This is my destiny and I will carry it out for my grandfather and you_—_I will restore our legacy."

Talia nodded silently, cupping her hand under his jaw,"You are very wise, my son." she whispered scarcely; wrapping her trim arms around his body. She pulled him tightly against her, resting her chin over the mop of his shaggy dark hair. She blinked the festering, unwanted tears out of her eyes and rocked him slowly as she felt him relax against the warmth radiating from her. "I will protect you until there is no longer a breath in my body." she declared to him with firm cadence in her voice.

Damian drew his head back and curved the edges of his lips into a slight smile as he replied, staring up at her with a promise welled in the embers of blue. " And so will I, mother."

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_A/N: First of all, a big thank you to everyone who read this story... You guys are the best. Second, I am doing something different with the chapters... After every fourth chapter in the story there will be a flashback segment about Damian's relationship with his mother and his training. The next flashback will be chapter 10 with Bane training Damian. Also, there will be lots of romance between the Bat and Cat and maybe a few surprises. Thank you and enjoy._


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